The auction continued on exactly how the old man predicted. The sects and clans purchased the most valuable items while the merchants took the scraps. The auction had many low-level pills for martial artists looking to break their bottlenecks and medicines that were able to cure wounds.
None of these seemed appealing to the old man so he just sat quietly watching everyone. On occasion, he would chuckle to himself whenever someone attempted to flaunt his or her wealth. It turned out the auction accepted both gold coins and spirit stones as currency, with most merchants using gold.
Liang had only heard of spirit stones before meeting the old man, but had never seen one. They were milky white but when held in the light they reflected a lustrous shine with multiple colors. They were also quite heavy and when he held it he felt the same prickly feeling in his back. The old man just gave him one before saying, “There may be many things I lack, but spirit stones are not one of them.”
The exchange rate was one small spirit stone equaled 10 gold coins and one medium grade spirit stone was worth 100 gold coins. The most expensive bid so far came from the Immortal Sword Sect who purchased a sword for 31 medium grade spirit stones. The old man whispered for Liang to hear, “A trash sword that would be better off melted and forged into something useful.”
The sword was thin with no curve and had a dull gray blade. In the pommel, there was a red gem, which was most likely a polished beast core. Anyone who cultivated a martial art of the same element would be able to unleash the cores abilities.
The old man told Liang it was a low-grade spirit artifact using the core of a beast equivalent to the peak qi condensation stage but it was broken. As it was now it would only be capable of releasing half the power it normally could, which in his opinion was not much anyways.
A few more herbs were sold in large batches until finally an item caught the old man’s eyes. It looked like any ordinary log, a little more than arm’s length and was about twice as thick as Liang’s leg. Carrying the log to the podium the auctioneer looked towards Fairy Xu before announcing the item.
“Next up is a large log of Three-Fires Ironwood. A very valuable wood for any alchemist. This piece was found near a now dormant volcano and was baked for over three-thousand years in three different flames. The starting bid will be 1,000 gold coins or 10 medium grade spirit stones.”
Almost immediately Young Master Wang bid 20 medium grade spirit stones, it was clear that he wanted to purchase this piece of wood. Thinking for a moment the old man grinned then raised his chin before bidding, “21 medium grade spirit stones.” The rest of the guests were silent, nobody wanted to become enemies with the Warring Crane Sect. Even if Young Master Wang bid less than the minimum, the auction would be willing to take the loss.
Barely allowing the old man to finish Master Wang shouted, “Thirty medium grade spirit stones.” However, each time he made a bid the old man bid one more stone. Finally, when the bid had reached 91 medium grade spirit stones, Young Master Wang could not take it.
A piece of Three-Flames Ironwood this size was worth approximated 40 medium grade spirit stones and the bid had already more than doubled its worth. As the young master of the Warring Crane Sect, he did not lack spirit stones, and he did not want to lose in front of Fairy Xu, but he also did not want to overspend to this extent.
Through gritted teeth he glared at the old man before saying, “Old man can you no longer bid on this? This is an important piece of wood for our sect and the price is already double its worth. If you continue on with this than only the auction house will benefit.” On the surface, his words made sense but everyone understood he was trying to force the old man out by using his sect’s name.
However, the old man was not bothered at all and rose from his chair turning towards the upper row. “Young Master Wang please forgive this old man. I do not want to come into conflict with your Warring Crane Sect but this piece of wood is equally important to me.”
The old man looked down at Liang as if his heart wrenched from seeing him in this state before continuing. “You see 15 years ago my son had a boating accident with his wife and child. Sadly, my son died along with his wife and the child fell into the lake. The child lay beneath the lake unable to breath for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”
He placed his hand on Liang’s shoulder, his eyes glistening as if he would cry any moment then continued, “The child’s spine was crushed and the lack of air caused him to go stupid. To this day we have not been able to find a doctor who can cure him.”
Everyone turned their heads towards Liang and saw that he was tied to the seat and had a pale sickly complexion. His eyes looked completely blank as if the young boy did not understand what was happening around him and his face looked dead to the world.
“You see, I only had one son; my daughters married off long ago and have their own families now. This disabled boy before you is unfortunately the heir to my family. This Three-Fires Ironwood is the only thing capable of creating the Triple-Yang Rebirth pill that can help cure his impotence.”
Fairy Xu turned away while all the men in the room looked at Liang pitying him and giving a newfound respect to the old man. Although they could not understand how a boating accident could lead to such a tragic situation, every one of them could sympathize with the old man’s plight.
With tears now dripping from his eyes the old man spoke almost pleadingly, “Young Master Wang, this old man is close to dying, but I do not want my family name to die with me. Although it is shameful to use a disabled boy this way, I have already found an old widow willing to bear a child with him after paying a large sum of money. I ask that you please take mercy on me in this situation.”
Remembering her first encounter with the disabled boy who was drooling, Fairy Xu did feel a bit of pity and turned to Young Master Wang saying, “Let him have it. We are still able to purchase it from the Sun Sect. Though they are a bit of a pain to deal with, I know you will be able to secure a piece from them.”
He did not want to give up despite also feeling pity for the old man, but when he heard Fairy Xu’s words, it left him with a sense of pride, happy that she was willing to rely on him. Finally relenting he said, “I understand old man, I concede this round.”
The old man gave them a deep bow and wiped the tears from his eyes before saying, “I thank you Young Master Wang and Fairy Xu for your magnanimity. You are the saviors of my family and I will hold this dear to my heart forever.” Many in the crowd felt touched by the old man’s heartfelt words and Young Master Wang just nodded to say he was done with it.
The auctioneer finally sold the wood to the old man and continued placing items up for people to bid on until the final item was brought on stage. A young Spotted-Tiger cub that caused much of the crowd to stand in excitement. Liang’s eyes lit up but the old man hardly looked at it.
A large clan ended up buying the cub for the final price of 280 medium grade spirit stones, by far the most expensive item. However, the old man did not seem to care and after collecting their wood, he carried Liang back to their room without incident.
He tossed Liang on the bed and then took the log out of his ring, placing it on the desk. It was a golden-brown color despite its name and was considerably heavy causing the desk to bow slightly. He pulled the chair out and took a dark black knife from his ring whose blade was no longer than a hand.
Liang had not said a word since the incident. The charade had worked but at the price of his dignity. Worst of all it was in front of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. He knew he would probably carry this embarrassment to his death, so he hoped he would never appear in front of Fairy Xu again.
